NATO members to increase defense spending

US President Donald Trump says Nato countries have agreed to increase their military spending.Speaking after a two-day summit in Brussels, he said allies had committed to spending more than 2% of their annual output (GDP) on defence budgets.The president has been highly critical of the alliance, complaining the US pays more than others.After the meeting, he said he believed in Nato and it was "presently unnecessary" to consider quitting it."We made a tremendous amount of progress today," he said. "It has been really amazing to see the level of spirit in that room."Mr Trump has previously urged Nato allies to commit at least 4% of their annual output (GDP).He said Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg had given "total credit" to him for the increased spending, which he said he instigated during his first Nato meeting last year.

Just re-stating what was agreed to in 2014 when they pledged to increase military spending to 2% of GDP by 2024. Trump claimed it was all due to him but that is disputed. He wants that raised to 4% which would be more than the US spends (3.6%- but on the other hand he may be trying to set a higher bar to urge them to hit the lower bar). The declaration did not say anything specific like how much they may increase spending.

President Donald Trump closed out his chaotic two-day visit to NATO Thursday by declaring victory, claiming that member nations caved to his demands to significantly increase defense spending and reaffirming his commitment to the alliance.

But there were no immediate specifics on what he had achieved, and French President Emmanuel Macron quickly disputed Trump’s claim that NATO allies have agreed to boost defense spending beyond 2 percent of gross domestic product.

“The United States’ commitment to NATO remains very strong,” Trump told reporters at a surprise news conference following an emergency session of NATO members held to address his threats.

Trump had spent his time in Brussels berating members of the military alliance for failing to spend enough of their money on defense, accusing Europe of freeloading off the U.S. and raising doubts about whether he would come to members’ defense if they were attacked.

Trump said he made his anger clear to allies on Wednesday.

“Yesterday I let them know that I was extremely unhappy with what was happening,” Trump said, adding that, in response, European countries agreed to up their spending.

“They have substantially upped their commitment and now we’re very happy and have a very, very powerful, very, very strong NATO,” he said.

Trump did not specify which countries had committed to what, and it remained unclear whether any had changed their plans. He seemed to suggest a speeded-up timeline, saying nations would be “spending at a much faster clip.”

He declared victory in North Korea saying the nuclear threat they posed had been eliminated even thought that too ended with a vaguely worded, non- binding statement signing.

Declare victory, get the photo-op and move on. I predict a "great meeting" with Putin this week.

Last edited by Zippyjuan; 07-12-2018 at 01:35 PM.

Donald Trump: 'What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening'

"Truth isn't truth"- Rudy Giuliani

"China has total respect for Donald Trump and for Donald Trump's very, very large brain," - Donald Trump.

“Force the normies into taking sides. At the moment they are just like "meh, I am minding my own business" retreating culturally into their private bubbles and "safe-spaces" since they don't understand what is going on. When the actual "us vs them" starts, they will be forced to fight or they'll die.” - Anonymous Poster

Just re-stating what was agreed to in 2014 when they pledged to increase military spending to 2% of GDP by 2024.

Yeah, Zippy's right on this one. Trump taking credit for earlier agreements.

But this shouldn't even be our main concern. Our main concern should be to disentangle ourselves - they can do as they please. We shouldn't be getting commitments for them to INCREASE their spending - we just need to tell them that we are DECREASING ours. They'll figure out what's in their best interests real quick.

"And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works." - Bastiat

"It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." - Voltaire

Yeah, Zippy's right on this one. Trump taking credit for earlier agreements.

But this shouldn't even be our main concern. Our main concern should be to disentangle ourselves - they can do as they please. We shouldn't be getting commitments for them to INCREASE their spending - we just need to tell them that we are DECREASING ours. They'll figure out what's in their best interests real quick.

Yeah, that would be a better option... too bad Trump didn't think of that first.

How much would our defense budget have to increase to hit the 4%? He's talking of a budget increase and more deficit spending!

Four percent of our GDP ($18.57 trillion a year) would be $743 billion. Trump likes borrowing money to pay for things (especially other people's money). We already spend about a third of all the military expenditures in the entire world.

Last edited by Zippyjuan; 07-12-2018 at 02:40 PM.

Donald Trump: 'What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening'

"Truth isn't truth"- Rudy Giuliani

"China has total respect for Donald Trump and for Donald Trump's very, very large brain," - Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump’s displeasure with the U.S.’s military allies over their relatively low defense spending is no secret. But now, according to media reports, Trump has threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO,) or to change its pivotal role in the alliance, over the matter.
In a closed-doors meeting at the two-day NATO summit in Brussels, Trump is said to have thrown a “tantrum” over the issue, threatening that the U.S. would go it alone on defense issues if the other NATO members—most of whom are European—do not immediately increase military spending as a percentage of gross domestic product. That’s according to Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported Trump as saying “I’ll do my own thing” if spending is not immediately increased.
It is not clear whether he was talking about a partial or full withdrawal from NATO, or whether he was serious about the threat. But the other members were rattled enough to convene an emergency meeting on the spending issue.

What Trump has threatened in the event of non-compliance with his claim is not known. Theoretically conceivable, for example, would be a reduction in the NATO engagement of the USA, but in the most drastic case even a break with NATO. However, he does not seem to have explicitly threatened to opt out of NATO. In any case, such a law would be difficult to enforce because the Senate would not approve of it.

(google translation)

Last edited by Zippyjuan; 07-12-2018 at 02:58 PM.

Donald Trump: 'What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening'

"Truth isn't truth"- Rudy Giuliani

"China has total respect for Donald Trump and for Donald Trump's very, very large brain," - Donald Trump.

"Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

"Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

Earlier today, during an impromptu, surprise press conference at the conclusion to the NATO summit, president Trump said that the allies achieved "tremendous progress today", and claimed that NATO member states had agreed to boost spending, while hanging the threat of a US pullout from the alliance: “I think I probably can,” was Trump’s answer when asked if he thought he could withdraw the U.S. from NATO without the approval of Congress.
There was just one problem: first French president Macron, then Angela Merkel both played down, if not outright denied, Trump's claims that a spending agreement had been reached.
When asked directly whether countries had committed to speed up spending as Trump claimed in his news conference, French President Emmanuel Macron stated the following response, which suggests that plans remains the same as always.

“Everyone agreed to raise spending as they agreed in 2014, and everyone agreed to respect the commitments they made,” Macron said. “We reaffirmed a credible budget strategy that meets our needs.”

Separately, Merkel also struck a non-committal tone and said “we should always be looking at what more we can do" which is roughly 180 degrees away from a firm commitment. Her full quote:

“We’ll have to talk about to what extent we can do more on defense. We presented the current situation. But considering the discussion among the European allies, not only he Americans, I think we need to ask ourselves consistently what more we can do.”

Meanwhile, Italy's Prime Minister was the closest to contradict Trump outright, telling reporters Italy has no plans to change its defense spending plans as a result of the summit.

"Italy has focused more on targets other than the 2 percent goal, such as increasing its participation in NATO missions. It isn’t just an accounting issue."

In other words, just like after the G7 meeting, Trump came, he saw, and left nothing but confusion in his wake.